“Yeahhhhhhh I’m gonna take my horse to the _______!” It does not matter if you are five or fifty years old, I can almost guarantee you know what words finish that lyric! Artist Lil Nas X has taken over the world and it all started with that one song!
Lil Nas X became a household name within a matter of DAYS! However, before he was the chart-topping performer that he is now, he was just a regular dude who ran a secret Nicki Minaj fan account! Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Montero Lamar Hill, famously known as “Lil Nas X” first broke out to fame after making a country rap song titled “Old Town Road” in December of 2018. While trying to get the song known, he consistently posted memes using his song over videos. Lil Nas himself estimated that he made over one hundred “Old Town Road” memes. Finally, his time had come and “Old Town Road” was used on the video app “Tik Tok” as a #YeehawChallenge where it then instantly went viral!
All success comes with its obstacles and Lil Nas faced his first one fairly quickly in the industry. After charting on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop, Nas’s success was only continuing to grow. However, in March of 2019, Billboard made quite a controversial decision to take “Old Town Road” off of their Hot Country Songs list claiming it was not “country enough.” It sparked a heavy debate on Twitter, exposing the racism that still exists in the music industry. But it did not stop there…a couple months later, in July of 2019, Wrangler announced a Lil Nas X collaboration in reference to a popular line from Old Town Road: “Wrangler on my booty.” The news of the collection got such bad backlash from Wrangler consumers that they were even threatening to boycott the brand! Despite the challenges and negativity, Nas has still become one of the biggest artists of today! “Old Town Road” remained at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for nineteen weeks, has had over 1billion streams on Spotify, and has won two awards. In addition to that, Nas has had several just as successful remixes of Old Town Road and released his own EP in June of 2019.
We can obviously see how amazing Lil Nas is. However, one of the most amazing things he has done in his career thus far is come out as gay. The last day of Pride month (June) Lil Nas tweeted to his fanbase to pay close attention to one of the songs on his EP titled “c7osure.” In the song, he is explaining his hardship and coming out. Being black, queer, AND in the hip-hop industry is not an easy deck of cards to be handed. However, Lil Nas X continues to not let those odds stop him but rather make it a point for all three voices to be heard simultaneously. It is safe to say that Lil Nas X is certifiably on top and his glory to success is admirable. We cannot wait to see his continual success!